According to the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), the state of Louisiana “locks up a higher percentage of its people than any independent democratic country on earth.”
This staggering trend has a disproportionate impact on women. Regardless of whether they are held in local, state or federal facilities, women’s incarceration not only impacts themselves, but touches their family, friends and communities. Moreover, PPI estimates that 80 percent of women in jails and prisons are mothers or are the primary caretakers of young children, making the upheaval caused by incarceration a serious social welfare concern.
Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2024, a PPI report released earlier this year, presents the ramifications of this disruption and highlights the intersection of race, class, and gender in carceral policy. In addition, the report addresses the skyrocketing growth in female incarceration—to more than 190,000 women and girls nationwide, the majority of them non-white and poor.
Even worse, material and emotional support are close to non-existent for most female detainees.
Operation Restoration (OR) is working to change this for women and girls in the Pelican State. The group was founded in 2016 by formerly incarcerated women to provide peer and social service support, referrals, and counseling to women caught up in the criminal justice system. A related project, Operation Girls (OG), was founded in late 2018 to help girls between the ages of 10 and 17 who have at least one parent in prison.
Ms. reporter Eleanor J. Bader spoke to Montrell Carmouche, who oversees Operation Restoration’s social service programs, and Gyanni Vickers, a 16-year-old Operation Girls participant, in early September.
Eleanor J. Bader: Let’s start with the need for Operation Girls.
Montrell Carmouche: When a mother is arrested it’s as if her whole household is arrested. When a woman is removed from the family, daughters typically have to step into maturity, care for younger siblings and try to hold things together.
Operation Girls has created an ecosystem for their support and for healing the household. We provide resources, mentorship, counseling and whatever the young girl needs to flourish. We’re a complete wraparound service and even serve as a liaison between kids and their schools.
We decided to focus on female-identified children because women and girls are typically left out of discussions about incarceration and there is a tremendous lack of resources for young girls living in marginalized communities, generally, and for girls dealing with incarceration, specifically. We’re a unique program and provide a place for kids to be kids.
Bader: How large is the program?
Carmouche: Although only 18 girls are currently involved, OG’s impact is huge. Officially, OG serves girls from age 10 to age 17, but many stay with us until they graduate high school. Once they graduate, they meet with a life coach who can help with college applications and financial aid paperwork, or help them find a direction for their adult years if college is not in their plans.
We want girls to grow up and be changemakers; our goal is to build women leaders but we start by understanding each girl and what she needs.
There are many challenges.
Since our founding, we’ve experienced teen pregnancies. One girl who is now 18 came to us at 17 when she was six months pregnant. We discovered that she had a learning disability and helped her get an Individualized Education Program—an IEP—so she could finish school. We helped her navigate getting WIC for the baby and helped her get to medical, school and other appointments. She had no parental support whatsoever. She is now caring for her small child and is in the process of getting housing and attending an Operation Education program for classes. There are so many stories like this, however, with resources and continued support, the focus is never on how we start, but on how we finish.
Women and girls are typically left out of discussions about incarceration—there is a tremendous lack of resources for young girls living in marginalized communities, generally, and for girls dealing with incarceration, specifically.
Montrell Carmouche, Operation Restoration
Bader: Please describe the different programs offered by Operation Girls.
Carmouche: We’re a year-round program. Three times a week we are in-person with participants. We also partner with a local gym for health and wellness. On program days we provide meals for the kids as well as transportation between the program and their homes. We provide tutoring support and there is a social worker on staff who offers family counseling and one-to-one counseling to girls who want it.
This Labor Day we had a barbeque and took the girls swimming. We aim for balance: educational enrichment, social skill development, and advocacy around issues that impact girls who are young, poor and of color. But we always make sure we have fun, too.
And every Wednesday we run a group called Girl Talking where we discuss everything: Sex, HIV awareness, opioid and drug use, parenting, relationships, healthy communication and financial literacy. Finally, several times a year, on MLK Day and Juneteenth, we sponsor service days. We’ve done voter registration, visited a nursing home and created hygiene packets for people living in shelters or in street encampments.
Bader: Gyanni, please weigh in. Tell me about the programs you’ve attended.
Vickers: I’ve been going to Operation Girls for two years. I appreciate Girl Talking because it’s a safe space. We can say anything and know that no one will speak about what was said outside of the room.
There’s a jar in the Operation Restoration office where we can anonymously suggest topics we want to pursue. Every Wednesday we pull out one of the papers and talk about the topic it suggests. My favorite so far has been the discussion of toxic relationships and how it’s not just significant others who can be toxic. We talked about breaking free from toxicity. For that topic, OR brought in a facilitator who gave us different scenarios for getting rid of people who bring us down so we can keep positive. Another Girl Talking focused on STDs. I didn’t know that cold sores are herpes and I’m glad to know that!
I also love the physical exercise program. We have a trainer who helps us work out every Tuesday. Then, on Thursday, after a short workout, we box.
Finally, last summer, 2023, I did an internship at Operation Restoration and got to rotate from department to department and see how each functions. I loved it.
For me, OG is a sisterhood. Everyone gets along and I’ve developed friendships with people I can relate to and have fun with. We’ve never really talked about our parents being in jail or prison, but that’s okay. I think we all want to put that part of our lives behind us.
Bader: Since all of the girls have a parent in jail or prison, do they live with relatives or family friends, or are they in foster care or group homes?
Carmouche: Some are in foster care or are living with family friends or relatives. Some have been reunited with their moms but not all of them love where they’re staying and too many are forced into adult responsibilities due to their circumstances.
Many live in extreme poverty and come to OG because they know that they’ll get a solid meal here. Others see us as aunts and we try to step into that role. There have been times when we’re the only people who show up at a graduation ceremony so our role is significant.
But I want to stress something else: At Operation Restoration we believe reentry starts the day a woman enters prison, not the day she leaves. This is why we’re working with two 18-year-olds who are serving time. Both were convicted and sentenced as adults. Neither had a high school diploma when she was arrested. Now both do. They’re also part of a Prison to College program that OR started five years ago. It’s an accredited program through Tulane that allows incarcerated women to get a college degree.
Bader: Are OG participants encouraged to become advocates?
Carmouche: We have a lobbyist who teaches the girls about policy. Several of our young ladies have spoken about the budget at city council meetings in New Orleans and we’ve been invited to the White House to speak about policy initiatives impacting young people of color.
Vickers: I’m interested in advocacy to help kids who have an incarcerated parent. Some kids graduate middle school or high school and their parents aren’t able to attend the ceremony. I want to advocate for them. Their parents should be released for a few hours so they can take part in something important to their kids. It would mean a lot for them to be present.
Bader: Does OG arrange trips to prisons and jails so kids can see their parents?
Carmouche: We only do this if a child requests it. Every family navigates incarceration differently, but we work to build and maintain connections so that when the parent is released she doesn’t come home to children who are strangers. We want the parent to know what resources are available when she gets out and work to connect her to a sponsor. Lastly, we make sure she is mentally healthy enough to be reunited with her children.
Bader: Gyanni, is there anything OG does not provide that you’d like?
Vickers: I wish we were able to go into different schools to talk about Operation Girls and get more girls involved. We’re pretty small and it would be great if we could expand and hear from girls at every New Orleans school or from other parts of Louisiana.
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